So Showered

I have some pretty amazing bridesmaids. I cannot believe how beautiful my bridal shower was. MOH M not only allowed us to crash her brand new (and beautiful, seriously—Mr. O and I should have just gotten married in her backyard!) home and front yard, but she also hosted the entire shower. She handled almost all of the food, the games, and the décor. MOH R helped her set it all up, as did FMIL Orchard. BM K sent messages of love from Oklahoma and helped the girls brainstorm all kinds of ideas prior to the shower. BM S showed up with her little bundle of joy who was just as happy and sweet as a newborn baby could be.

The shower was travel themed, and M used places that Mr. Orchard and I have been since we started dating to name the food and drinks. And the food was delicious. Seriously, I die.

She also used some of our wedding décor as inspiration, which was awesome because we could try things out and see how they worked!

We played some traditional games. I’m sorry but I have always loved the toilet-paper bridal gown game. I got my Project Moment at last, which is the closest I’ll ever get to Heidi Klum.

FMIL Orchard helps Mama O get all dressed up! / Personal photo

MoH R gets styled by X and NY Nicki! / Personal photo

Teachers unite! The beautiful bride in this group has had some practice—she got married last summer! / Personal photo

M surprised me with a game of 20 Questions. She had been in contact with Mr. Orchard via email to get answers to 20 different questions about our relationship, and they asked me to see if our answers would match. I’m very proud to say I got 14 out of 2o answers right, some verbatim. It was a ton of fun, and it turns out Mr. O was very excited to see how well we did!

There was an awesome photo display set up full of pictures of Mr. Orchard and me throughout the years provided by our moms. There were some real winners in the mix”¦yikes!

There were gifts. Glorious gifts! We got lots of traditional registry items that I am beyond grateful for, but I was also gifted the most beautiful cake plate by Orchard Mom, a piece that belonged to O’s late grandmother. It was the first gift I opened and I had to pause for a moment to collect myself before moving on to the next. It was a really special moment.

My dear friend Christine also provided us with the ever popular and versatile Magic Bullet, which lead to a few laughs and even some off-color jokes. I love good innuendo.

My friend Nicki (who is engaged to GM Howdy Doody) embraced the travel theme in her gift and focused on the honeymoon with a cookbook from Magnolia Bakery in NYC, as well as several baking supplies.

The festivities were concluded with dessert, a bonfire, and a champagne-float toast.

For the sake of honesty, I will admit I had a little breakdown earlier in the week because I knew my shower would be small. Showers are usually times for family to gather, along with friends, but my family is far away in Washington and obviously can’t travel back and forth multiple times in just a few months. Still, it was sad to not have my aunts and cousins there to celebrate. I guess we’ll just have to party twice as hard in November! Even looking back at pictures, I just can’t believe how lucky I am to have had the opportunity to spend time with so many friends. Maybe it’s because I have such a crazy schedule, but I always feel extra appreciative when people give up their time for me.

Mr. Orchard returned from his bachelor party weekend just in time to help me carry our loot to the car and clean up. I’m just impressed he was walking! His Best Man, Doc, is notorious for hosting crazy bachelor parties. When I asked Mr. O how he managed to survive it and still be so spry he indicated there would be a “part two” in November while we ladies are having ours!

What was the theme of your bridal shower? Did you receive any particularly emotional or funny gifts?

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I feel like I will be a little sad about my shower being small as well, because it’ll only be half of the family, since my fiance’s family lives mostly across the country from us. At the same time, I’m just grateful that (hopefully) they are willing to make the trek out for our wedding, so I can’t be too upset about the shower.